Awesome in New Zealand is used all the time from a shopping trip to booking in at the camp site. But Milford Sound really is awesome. Yesterday New Zealand resembled a bleak summers day in scotland with heavy rain showers, wind and a few sunny intervals. Consequently we arrived at Te Anau at lunch time as we weren't distracted by amazing views! Feeling optimistic that this turn in the weather was just a blip we booked a trip to Milford Sound. And today the ...

Today we had a trip to Mordor. It involved going 42 km up a river off Lake Wanaka in a jet boat. We were lead by our very own Gandalf otherwise known as Brent, a moari but I'm sure had a bit of blarny irish in him given the tales he told. As we sped up the river Gandalf pointed out various locations used in the filming of the lord of the rings and the hobbit. Even though we have seen two of the films we didn't recognise them! He impressed us with some wizzard fa...

Wanaka is around 60 km east of Fox Glacier but the journey involves a two hour drive down the west coast followed by a futher two hour long climb over the Southern Alps. Between Fox Glacier and Haast there is nothing. Well that's not quite true, there is a lot of temparate rain forest and a few lakes that are stunning but after a night of rain seem to have been infested with nasty bighty sand flys. So we stopped to take few photos before quickly getting back in...

We are at Fox Glacier today and we went on two short contrasting walks that highlighted some interesting facts about New Zealand. The first was to the end of the Fox Gacier, thsecond around Mathison Lake both near our camp site. We thought we'd share our new found knowledge with you. Are you sitting comfortabley? The Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are the only ones in the world that end in temperate rain forest. This gives the strange juxtaposition of raw, rugg...

There are lots of places that people rave about but here is my recipe for what I call a natural wonder. A big dollop of limestone - guarantees great volume and structure A large quantity of sea - essential for producing a bit of drama A big handful of interesting native flora and fauna - adds spice and flavour to the whole scene A sprinkling of tourists - great for creating some unusual reactions All presented in bright sunshine with a backdrop of blue sky....